Delhi topped the list among the Union Territories with 7,783 crimes against children registered in 2021, while Nagaland registered the lowest number of crimes against children.
Tag: crime against children
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Over 400 per cent rise in cybercrime cases committed against children in 2020: NCRB data
By PTI
NEW DELHI: More than 400 per cent increase in cybercrime cases committed against children was reported in 2020 in comparison to 2019, with most of them relating to publishing or transmitting of materials depicting children in sexually explicit act, according to the latest NCRB data.
Top five states reporting cyber crimes against children are: Uttar Pradesh (170), Karnataka (144), Maharashtra (137), Kerala (107) and Odisha (71), the National Crimes Record Bureau data stated.
Among the 842 cases of online offences, 738 cases were about publishing or transmitting materials depicting children in sexually explicit act.
As the NCRB 2020 data reveals, there is a sharp rise (over 400 per cent) in cyber crimes (registered under the Information Technology Act) committed against children in comparison to the last year.
In 2019, 164 cases of cyber crimes against children were reported while in 2018, 117 cases of cyber crimes were committed against children and 79 such cases were registered in 2017.
Even though the number of cybercrime cases committed against children in 2020 remain small, its rise from 2019 is alarming.
Puja Marwaha, CEO, CRY-Child Rights and You, said while spending more time on internet for accessing education and other communication purposes, children have also become more vulnerable to multiple risks, particularly in the contexts of online sexual abuse, grooming or sexual solicitation, sexting, exposure to pornography, production and circulation of child sexual abuse material, cyber-bullying, online harassment and cyber-victimisation, and many other privacy-related risks.
“While there is little evidence to ascertain the scale of the impact of the epidemic containment measures on online abuse and exploitation of children, closure of schools and children’s increased exposure to the online space may have had serious implications on the increased online risks experienced by them,” she added.
During the Covid pandemic, measures taken to contain the spread of the pandemic have resulted in closure of schools and movement to virtual learning environments.
Children also spent more time online for entertainment, social and educational purposes, whilst not necessarily being aware of any associated risks.
According to the UNICEF report (2020), 13 per cent of children and people aged 25 years or less in South Asia accessed the internet at home.
The report also states that in lower-middle income countries only 14 per cent school-age children (3-17 years) have internet access at home.
However, there is no conclusive data available in the public domain to ascertain the numbers of children accessing the internet for education and other purposes across India, especially during the pandemic.
The UNICEF (2020) report, however, estimated that during the Covid pandemic around 37.6 million children across 16 states in India continued education through various remote learning initiatives such as online classrooms and radio programmes.
Marwaha said due to lockdown and closure of schools, limited opportunity for socialisation has also affected the psycho-social well-being of children.
“This may lead to increased loneliness, mood to conduct disorders, substance abuse or anxiety disorders. And, they may be predisposed to using the internet compulsively, accessing objectionable content or simply be more vulnerable to getting bullied or abused,” she said.
Marwaha called for a need for cohesion between forums for internet governance policy and child protection on the existing discourse on children’s digital rights.
“The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has a crucial role in facilitating this discourse. This will help in addressing the gaps in legislative and policy measures on several cyber safety issues such as criminalisation of cyberbullying and sexting among peers and categorisation of self-generated images as Child Sexual Abuse Material,” she said.
“There is limited understanding among caregivers, educators and society regarding children’s experiences with ICTs and perceived risks that they face online. There is a need to help caregivers, educators and parents to understand what children should know so as to be able appropriately and responsibly and be able to guide them. The existing awareness building programmes lack common content focus, are fragmented and have limited outreach,” Marwaha added.
She also stressed on the need for a coordinated approach for equipping children, caregivers, teachers and the public with skills for safeguarding against online threats and being responsible digital citizens.
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Parliament panel not to push for lowering age limit to 16 years for juveniles involved in serious POCSO cases
By PTI
NEW DELHI: A key parliamentary panel has decided not to push for lowering the age limit to 16 years from 18 years for juveniles involved in serious POCSO cases after the government asserted that existing laws are adequate to deal with heinous crimes committed by those in this age group.
The government’s response comes based on an observation of the parliamentary standing committee on Home Affairs led by Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader Anand Sharma which noted that there have been a large number of cases under the POCSO Act where the age of the juveniles has been below the threshold age for applicability of the law.
“The Committee believes that minor sexual offenders may commit more serious and heinous crimes if left untreated/uncounselled.”
“Therefore, it is very important to relook at these provisions because more and more juveniles are getting involved in such crimes. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the MHA may take up with MoW&CD to review the current age limit of 18 years and see if it can be reduced to 16 years for the applicability of the POCSO Act, 2012,” the panel noted.
In response, the Women and Child Development Ministry informed that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, (JJ Act), 2015 which is the primary legislation for children in need of care and protection (CNCP) and children in conflict with law.
“Child accused of crime under POCSO Act is protected under the provisions of JJ Act, 2015 based on the principle of restorative justice. The JJ Act, 2015 empowers Juvenile Justice Board to decide upon matters of children in conflict with law. Further, offences committed by the children have been categorised as petty, serious and heinous offences,” the WCD Ministry said in its response.
“The JJ Act, 2015 also includes a procedure to decide upon cases where children above the age of 16 years have been alleged to commit a heinous offence,” the WCD ministry added.
The parliamentary panel said it does not wish to pursue the matter in view of the government’s reply.
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Man rapes four-year-old in Haryana’s Sonipat
By PTI
CHANDIGARH: A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 36-year-old man in Haryana’s Sonipat district, police said on Sunday.The accused living near the victim’s house falling in an area under the Rai police station allegedly lured her to his place and raped her on Friday night, said police.
The accused has been arrested, a police official said over the phone.
A case of rape under the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act has been registered, said the police official.
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Man sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping minor in Rajasthan
By PTI
KOTA: A POCSO court here has sentenced a man to 20-years imprisonment for abducting and raping a 13-year-old girl in Kota city around two years ago.The court also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on the 23-year-old convict Monu Mahawar The convict on March 27, 2019 abducted the girl while she was returning home from classes and kept her at a relative’s house in Kota where he repeatedly raped her.
The father of the survivor lodged a missing report after she did not return home.
The girl was rescued after 19 days and Mahawar taken in custody.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court -3 of the city convicted Mahawar on Monday.
Statements of at least 22 witnesses were recorded during the trial of the case, the public prosecutor said
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Minor girl found dead on farm in UP, family alleges murder after rape
By PTI
BAGPHAT: A seven-year-old girl was found dead on a farm in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district, with her family members alleging that she was murdered after being raped, a claim denied by police.Additional Superintendent of Police Manish Mishra said the girl had gone missing from her home in a village in Singhavali police station area under mysterious circumstances on Saturday.
“When the girl did not return till late evening, the family members started searching for her. Late in the night, her body was found in a sugarcane field. Police reached the spot after getting information, and sent the body for post-mortem,” Mishra said.
The post-mortem report does not confirm rape, the additional SP said.
Based on the complaints lodged by the family members of the girl, a case has been registered against neighbour Manoj and his wife.
Manoj has been taken into custody and is being interrogated, police said.
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Six women, two girls rescued from being trafficked in Jharkhand
By PTI
MEDININAGAR: Six women and two girls were rescued on Saturday from Jharkhand’s Medininagar while being allegedly trafficked to Tamil Nadu, police said.A woman was arrested in this connection, they said.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of police personnel rescued the women and girls from the Daltonganj railway station before being trafficked to the southern state, a senior officer said.
They are from Haidarnagar, Ganj and Sowa Baraiva areas and the police handed them over to the labour department, he said.
“The rescued women and girls are from poor families and were lured with the promise of jobs. The arrested woman is being interrogated,” the officer added.
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Maharashtra: 5-year-old girl raped, killed in Nanded
By PTI
AURANGABAD: A five-year-old girl has been allegedly raped and killed by a man in Maharashtra’s Nanded district, police said on Thursday.The incident took place on Wednesday near a river in Divshi village of Nanded following which the accused was arrested, an official from Bhokar police station said.
The 35-year-old accused worked as a labourer at a farm owned by the girl’s family.
On Wednesday afternoon, the accused took the girl to a riverside where he allegedly raped her and then strangulated her to death, a police official said.
The accused was later found near the spot and was arrested, the police said, adding that the body was sent for postmortem.
Superintendent of Police Pramodkumar Shewale told PTI that the girl’s father saw her with the accused around 2 pm.
Later, around 5 pm, when she was not found, her father and relatives went to a local police station and submitted a complaint, he said.
The police are conducting an investigation into the case, he added.
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Maharashtra man gets 10 years RI for raping minor niece
By PTI
THANE: A district court here sentenced a 62-year-old man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for repeatedly raping his minor niece in Maharashtra’s Thane district.District judge (special POCSO Act) S P Gondhalekar on Wednesday found the accused guilty of charges under relevant sections of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 22,000 on the accused, additional public prosecutor Ujjwala Moholkar said.
The prosecution informed the court that the accused, who is an autorickshaw driver, used to frequent the home of the victim then a Class 9 student in Rabodi.
Once when the victim had headed out for tuition classes, the accused met her on the way and took her to a hotel in Mumbra, where he raped her, the prosecution state.
The accused threatened and raped her on at least four occasions in April and May 2014, it was stated.
Taking a serious view of the case, the court convicted the accused and sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
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Maharashtra govt school teacher booked for raping minor student
By PTI
ALIBAUG: A case has been registered against a government school teacher at Mangaon in Raigad district of Maharashtra for allegedly raping a minor girl student, police said on Thursday.The accused, Madan Wankhede, was booked under relevant sections of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, they said.
“The accused raped the minor victim, who studied in his school, on multiple occasions since 2016. He used to threaten the girl that if she told about it to anyone, he would fail her in the exam and that her mother, who works in the same school, would also lose her job,” an official of Mangaon police station said.
However, the girl mustered courage and finally told her ordeal to her mother recently, following which a complaint was lodged.
Investigation into the case is on.